Netanyahu To Obama: ‘Wait For What? Wait Until When?’

In this handout photo from the Israeli Government Press Office, President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they walk along the Colonnade of the White House on March 5, 2012 in Washington, D.C. (credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO via Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making it clear that Israel will not wait to take out Iranian nuclear facilities.

In heated comments toward the United States, the Israeli prime minister said that it’s becoming clear that diplomacy will not work with Iran.

“The world tells Israel, `Wait. There’s still time,'” Netanyahu said Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. “And I say: `Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”

The Obama administration has consistently stated that they don’t want to go the military route against Iran and give more time for the sanctions to force Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions.

“If Iran knows that there is no deadline, what will it do? Exactly what it’s doing. It’s continuing, without any interference, towards obtaining nuclear weapons capability and from there, nuclear bombs,” he said, according to Haaertz.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to downplay the harsh rhetoric, saying in a statement to Haaertz that the tension between the U.S. and Israel should be ironed out “behind closed doors.”

The Israeli paper also reports that the White House denied Netanyahu’s request to visit President Obama at the end of this month.